Research Data Management is broadly unders tood as collecting, analyzing, publishing, reanalyzing, critiquing, and reusing data. The increase of digital content in the broad areas of Institu tional and domain specific Repositories, Libraries, Archives and Museums and the increased interest in the sharing and preservati on of "research data" have triggered the emergence of new roles such as Data Curator. The paper refers about the on-going inve stigation of current data curator education and training programs with regard to the role of information professionals and/or da ta scientists in the research lifecycle. The investigation has be en based on a series of workshops and events discussing the concerns of researchers and teachers about digital library and digital curation. A first list of competencies and skills at technical and operational level that professionals should have, has been evidenced. The theoretical framework and structure of educati onal programmes should have sufficient flexibility to accommodate the needs of various groups of specialists.